Yearly Traffic Safety Analysis

126 CRASHES IN
ROCHESTER, MA
2025

All metrics benchmarked against2024

In 2025, Rochester recorded 126 total crashes, a 43.2% increase from the 88 crashes recorded in 2024. This rise was accompanied by a 56.5% increase in total injuries, from 23 to 36. The most significant change was the increase in serious injury crashes, which rose from 1 in the prior period to 8 in the current period.

126

43.2%was 88

Total Crash Events

0

Persons Killed

36

56.5%was 23

Persons Injured

1

-50.0%was 2

Hit-and-Run Crashes

Note: "Persons Killed" (0) counts individual fatalities across all crash events. "Fatal" in the severity table below (0) counts crash events where at least one fatality occurred. A single crash can result in multiple fatalities. 2 crashes with unreported severity are not shown in the severity breakdown.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Aggregate counts from crash, person, and vehicle records

Trend Summary

Crash data for Rochester indicates a rising trend year-over-year. Total crashes increased by 43.2%, from 88 in 2024 to 126 in 2025. Similarly, the number of people injured in these crashes rose by 56.5%, from 23 to 36, while fatalities remained at zero for both periods.

1

Hit-and-Run Crashes — 2025

-50.0% vs prior (2)

The number of hit-and-run incidents decreased from 2 in 2024 to 1 in 2025. Correspondingly, the hit-and-run rate, expressed as a percentage of total crashes, declined from 2.3% in the prior year to 0.8% in the current year, indicating a downward trend for this specific crash type.

Vulnerable Road User Casualties

0

Motorists Killed

Prior: 00.0%

36

Motorists Injured

Prior: 2356.5%

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Mode classified from person records (driver/passenger → motorist; pedestrian; bicyclist → cyclist; in-line skater / unspecified → other)

When Crashes Happen

Temporal patterns of crashes shifted between the two periods. The peak day for crashes moved from Thursday (17 crashes) in 2024 to Friday (30 crashes) in 2025. The peak hour also shifted from the evening at 8 p.m. (9 crashes) in the prior year to the afternoon commute time of 4 p.m. (11 crashes) in the current year. Crashes in November more than doubled, from 10 in 2024 to 21 in 2025.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash date field aggregated by weekday

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Crash time field aggregated by hour (0-23)

Crash Severity Breakdown

While there were no fatal crashes in either 2024 or 2025, the severity of injury crashes changed notably. The number of serious injury crashes increased from 1 in 2024 to 8 in 2025, representing a shift from 1.1% to 6.3% of all crashes. Conversely, while the absolute count of minor injury crashes decreased from 16 to 13, their share of total crashes fell from 18.2% to 10.3%.

Outcome by Severity (Crash Events)

Serious Injury8serious injury crashes6.3%
700.0%prior 1
Minor Injury13minor injury crashes10.3%
-18.8%prior 16
Possible Injury5possible injury crashes4%
400.0%prior 1
No Injury98no injury crashes77.8%
42.0%prior 69

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · KABCO injury classification scale

Severity Distribution (Crash Events)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Most severe injury per crash record

Top Contributing Factors

The leading contributing factor in both periods was 'No improper driving,' with counts rising from 41 to 56. 'Failed to yield right of way' saw a significant increase, doubling from 7 crashes in 2024 to 14 crashes in 2025, becoming the second-most cited factor. Crashes attributed to 'Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner' tripled in count, increasing from 2 to 6 incidents. Meanwhile, crashes involving 'Inattention' held steady at 9 incidents in both years, though its share of total crashes decreased from 10.2% to 7.1%.

Officer-Reported Primary Contributing Cause

No improper driving56 (44.4%)36.6%prior 41
Failed to yield right of way14 (11.1%)100.0%prior 7
Inattention9 (7.1%)0.0%prior 9
Operating vehicle in erratic, reckless, careless, negligent or aggressive manner6 (4.8%)
Swerving or avoiding due to wind, slippery surface, vehicle, object, vulnerable user in roadway6 (4.8%)
Disregarded traffic signs, signals, road markings4 (3.2%)
Failure to keep in proper lane or running off road4 (3.2%)
Over-correcting/over-steering4 (3.2%)
Glare3 (2.4%)
Followed too closely3 (2.4%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Officer-reported primary contributory cause per crash

Road & Environmental Conditions

The majority of crashes in both periods occurred in clear weather and on dry roads. The proportion of crashes on dry surfaces increased from 70.5% in 2024 to 77.0% in 2025. While the absolute number of crashes on non-dry surfaces (wet, snow, ice, or slush) was identical at 26 for both years, their share of total crashes decreased from 29.5% to 20.6%. A larger share of crashes occurred during daylight hours in 2025 (48.4%) compared to 2024 (38.6%).

Weather

Clear83 (65.9%)
45.6%prior 57
Cloudy14 (11.1%)
133.3%prior 6
Rain7 (5.6%)
16.7%prior 6
Snow5 (4.0%)
Clear/Unknown3 (2.4%)
Cloudy/Rain2 (1.6%)
Clear/Other2 (1.6%)
Rain/Cloudy2 (1.6%)
Clear/Snow1 (0.8%)
Fog, smog, smoke1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Weather condition at time of crash

Lighting

Daylight61 (48.4%)
79.4%prior 34
Dark - roadway not lighted46 (36.5%)
21.1%prior 38
Dark - lighted roadway7 (5.6%)
16.7%prior 6
Dawn7 (5.6%)
Dusk4 (3.2%)
-50.0%prior 8
Dark - unknown roadway lighting1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Lighting condition field

Road Surface

Dry97 (77.0%)
56.5%prior 62
Wet18 (14.3%)
5.9%prior 17
Snow5 (4.0%)
-16.7%prior 6
Sand, mud, dirt, oil, gravel3 (2.4%)
Slush2 (1.6%)
Ice1 (0.8%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Road surface condition field

Vehicles & Demographics

An analysis of persons involved in crashes shows a notable increase in certain age groups year-over-year. The number of individuals aged 45-54 involved in crashes more than tripled, rising from 10 to 31. The 65+ age group saw its involvement double from 16 to 32 persons. Regarding vehicle makes, Toyota and Ford remained the most frequently involved, with Toyota's count increasing from 17 to 24 and Ford's from 17 to 21.

Top Vehicle Makes (175 vehicles)

1
TOYOTA24 (13.7%)
41.2%prior 17
2
FORD21 (12%)
23.5%prior 17
3
HONDA19 (10.9%)
46.2%prior 13
4
CHEVROLET16 (9.1%)
6.7%prior 15
5
NISSAN15 (8.6%)
150.0%prior 6
6
SUBARU9 (5.1%)
7
GMC6 (3.4%)
20.0%prior 5
8
DODGE6 (3.4%)
9
JEEP6 (3.4%)
0.0%prior 6
10
KIA5 (2.9%)

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Vehicle unit records

4 persons with unknown or unrecorded age excluded from age chart.

Sex Distribution (203 persons with recorded sex)

Male109 (53.7%)
23.9%prior 88
Female94 (46.3%)
91.8%prior 49

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Person-level records linked to crash events

Speed Limit Zones

The distribution of crashes across speed zones shows a concentration in the 40 mph zone for both years. This zone saw the largest year-over-year increase in incidents, rising from 42 crashes in 2024 to 69 crashes in 2025. Crashes in 35 mph zones also increased from 19 to 22. There were no fatal crashes recorded in any speed zone during either period.

Source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV) · Arcgis_yearly Open Data · 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31 · Posted speed limit at crash location

Data Sources & Methodology

Primary Data Source

All crash data in this report is sourced from Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), accessed programmatically via the Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SODA). This dataset contains official police-reported motor vehicle traffic crash records maintained by the reporting jurisdiction's law enforcement agency. Records are published to the open data portal by the municipality and are subject to the portal's terms of use.

Data Retrieval

  • Access method: Arcgis_yearly Open Data API (SoQL queries)
  • Data format: Structured JSON via REST API
  • Record types queried: Crash events, person records, and vehicle unit records
  • Date filter applied: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31
  • Report generated: June 21, 2026

Data Coverage

  • Reporting period: 2025-01-01 through 2025-12-31 (365 days)
  • Geographic scope: ROCHESTER, MA
  • Total crash records analyzed: 126
  • Total persons involved: 210
  • Total vehicles involved: 175

Analytical Methodology

  • Severity classification: Uses the KABCO injury scale (K=Fatal, A=Incapacitating injury, B=Non-incapacitating injury, C=Possible injury, O=No injury/property damage only), the standard classification in U.S. Model Minimum Uniform Crash Criteria (MMUCC). Severity is assigned per crash event based on the most severe injury in that crash. A single fatal crash (K) may involve multiple fatalities; therefore the "Persons Killed" count in the headline KPIs may differ from the "Fatal" crash count in the severity breakdown.
  • Contributing factors: Reflect the officer-determined primary contributory cause recorded at the time of the crash report. These are preliminary determinations and may not reflect final investigation findings.
  • Hit-and-run classification: Based on the hit-and-run indicator field in the official crash report, as determined by the responding officer at the scene.
  • Temporal analysis: Day-of-week and hour-of-day distributions are computed from the crash date/time timestamp in each record.
  • Demographics: Age and sex distributions are drawn from person-level records linked to each crash event. A single crash may involve multiple persons.
  • Vehicle data: Make information is drawn from vehicle unit records linked to each crash event.
  • AI commentary: Narrative sections are generated by Google Gemini (large language model) based on the structured data. Commentary is descriptive, not predictive, and should not be interpreted as expert opinion.

Limitations & Disclaimers

  • Only crashes reported to and documented by law enforcement are included. Minor incidents, unreported crashes, and near-misses are not captured in this dataset.
  • Data reflects conditions at the time of the initial police report and may be subject to subsequent corrections, reclassifications, or supplements by the reporting agency.
  • Open data portal records may experience a publication lag - recently occurring crashes may not yet appear in the dataset at the time of report generation.
  • AI-generated commentary is produced by a large language model and is intended to highlight patterns in the data. It does not constitute legal, medical, or professional analysis.
  • Percentages are calculated from reported data and are subject to rounding.

Non-Affiliation Disclosure

This report is produced independently by ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced in partnership with any law enforcement agency, municipal government, state department of transportation, or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Data is sourced from publicly available government open data portals.

Data License

The underlying crash data is provided under the municipality's Open Data Terms of Use and is made available to the public for unrestricted use. This analysis and report is © 2026 Injuria.ai and may be cited with attribution using the suggested citation below.

Corrections & Feedback

If you believe any data in this report is inaccurate or have questions about our methodology, please contact: data@injuria.ai. We are committed to accuracy and will issue corrections promptly.

Suggested Citation

ThatCarHitMe.com (Injuria.ai). "ROCHESTER, MA Crash Intelligence Report: 2025." Published June 21, 2026. Reporting period: 2025-01-01 to 2025-12-31. Data source: Massachusetts Crash Data (MassDOT CDV), Arcgis_yearly Open Data. Available at: https://thatcarhitme.com/crash-data/massachusetts/rochester/2025-annual-report

About the Publisher

ThatCarHitMe.com is a crash data intelligence platform developed by Injuria.ai, a legal technology company specializing in traffic safety analytics. We aggregate and analyze publicly available government crash data to produce structured intelligence reports for communities, researchers, journalists, and legal professionals. Our reports combine programmatic data retrieval from official open data portals with AI-assisted narrative analysis.

Questions about this report's data or methodology: data@injuria.ai

ThatCarHitMe.com · An Injuria.ai Company

Rochester, MA Crash Report — 2025 | ThatCarHitMe.com